How to Submit Cartoons to the New Yorker (Cartoonist Submissions)

Here's the rundown on how to submit cartoons for publication in the New Yorker. It's a very easy online submission process to send them your cartoons.

I've submitted a few times before and been rejected so I know the process pretty well (sad violin sound). But you should give it a go. The worse that can happen is that they very politely say no.

The TLDR of the Cartoon Submission Process

In case you're in a rush to know the basics, here's the two-step online process for submitting your cartoons.

1. Create ten cartoons that are in a digital format.

2. Get an account at submittable.com and send the New Yorker your ten cartoons.

That's it in a nutshell. Now let's answer a few questions and get into a little bit more detail on how to submit cartoons to the New Yorker.

Can Anyone Submit Cartoons to the New Yorker?

Yes. Anyone can submit cartoons to the New Yorker. You don't actually have to live in New York to be a New Yorker cartoonist. You can be from anywhere in the world.

How Many Cartoons Can I Submit to the New Yorker?

You can submit up to ten cartoons - no more than once a month. Since it's extraordinarily hard to get accepted, it's best to submit the maximum allowable number of cartoons in a batch. Submit ten cartoons.

It is very important that these cartoons have not appeared anywhere else before. They should not have previously appeared on your website, social media, or in some other publication.

These must be fully drawn cartoons, not half-baked sketches for cartoon ideas. They want finished publishable work from you.

Do not send cover illustrations or any other type of illustration. They just want cartoons.

The Cartoon Submission Process for the New Yorker

Currently, you submit the cartoons via an online service at submittable.com. You can submit only once per month.

Before signing up for a submittable account you should do a couple of things in advance before sending in some cartoons.

You can submit up to ten cartoons so you should have at least ten prepared before you submit. You want to have the most chances possible when submitting so submit exactly ten. Submit your absolute ten best original cartoons.
They ask for a cover letter as part of the online form. Maybe write something about who you are and place an emphasis on your desire to be a regular contributor to their magazine. Put some advance thought and preparation into the cover letter before you submit the cartoons. Aim for something around the 50 to 100-word range.

How Long Does It Take to Get Your Cartoons Reviewed?

According to the information on the site, cartoons for the New Yorker are reviewed on "a rolling basis".

I did some googling to try to figure out an average but all the information I found was old and so was unfortunately not applicable to the current publishing situation.

Here's how long it took for me to receive a response to my submissions: it varied from two to five months to hear an official response. Your response may be quicker but personally based on this scrap of information, I'm putting the response window to be between 60 to 150 days for newcomers to the submission process.

If you submit cartoons to the New Yorker this is really good to know so you can avoid the existential crisis I started to feel after about 15 days after submission. Set your expectations that will take at least a couple of months or longer to hear back from them and make more cartoons while you await their response.

They get thousands of submissions so the review process is understandably not super quick. Be very patient.

Font and Other Format Considerations for the New Yorker

The cartoon images I submitted include the punchlines as part of the image. I used the Adobe Caslon font for this as it closely mimics whatever font the New Yorker officially uses. I aimed for a text size that allows about eight to ten words per line of text. But nowhere in the requirements do they specify what font to use.

You can, of course, use a handwritten punchline which will be replaced upon publication or kept in if it's an integral part of the work like it is, for example, in many of Roz Chast's cartoons. If it's handwritten, make it very legible.

Get an issue of the magazine and look at the cartoons to get a feel for the format of the cartoons. Cartoons are squarish or slightly taller and rarely feature any color. They shy away from bold gag-style cartoons and generally aim for more ironic modern living cartoons with wry intent.

List of New Yorker Cartoonists

Here are some links to the work of New Yorker cartoonists. Check their cartoons out to get inspired and get a feel for the kind of work the New Yorker likes.

Who Is the Current Editor of the New Yorker?

Emma Allen is the person in charge of deciding what makes for a great New Yorker Cartoon. In this article, she speaks at length about cartoon submissions in general and what it takes to be a cartoonist for the New Yorker.

Final Thoughts on the Submission Process

Even though, I didn't get a cartoon accepted it was a very fun process and I might climb that hill again one day.

It's a very tough market where you're competing against an established stable of super-talented New Yorker cartoonists plus thousands of sweaty incumbents like you and me so if you decide to submit know that the odds are against you and in all likelihood it will take many tries to get in.

So keep at and improve your cartoons between rejections. Good luck!